Sunday, September 22, 2013

The Faux Pas Press #188: Heirophant Smith, Jr.


Talk being the cheapest expression of what REALLY is, there seems to be some confusion here regarding where we ALL are going; convincingly enough, we seem to be coolest when rejecting orthodoxy is our token and embracing heterodoxy is our footstool. Some practitioners of the sacred arts, reject ego as their EGO persists in the most subtle and peculiar ways. We reject suits, dresses, and churches; we embrace feathers, tattoos, and hair coloring. We reject war, business, and jobs; we embrace listless journey, art, and chant. We reject exercise with weight and meat for recovery; we embrace coconut oil instead of a cows fat. What is permitted in a circle of health and veganism is rejected by those called 'ignorant' by leaf-eating hierophants. So, being cool, I have found, requires as much tithe as any organization. "I reject organized religion," the Enlightened Soul says, proudly marching around in circles where vital energy, money, and time are freely given and taken advantage of without a just return. It may seem ignorant to some how a person can spend his days in service of organization, redeeming his efforts in the form of a paycheck. An artist is too good for sustained employment these days while Mr. Warhol said, "Business is the greatest form of art." Our time spent here on Earth has little to be justified. Let me say, "There is nothing wrong with you. There is nothing wrong with you. There is nothing to fix. There is no product, amulet, or seer stone which must be acquired to find yourself. When Christ said, "Any man who shall loose his life for my name's sake shall find it - he was talking about you. He was talking about those who are silently casting spells in the name of loved ones, in the name of family. Whether you've decided to worship at the altar of diet or free-spiritedness; whether you've decided to roam without attachment to country or land, you may have already found that you still must pay homage to both."

Oh so much cooler are those who find achievement in taking from others! You can shit talk actions taken by those who control resources. You can sit in front of the captains of industry who employ actual millions and you can complain about your lot. Meanwhile, thousands of migrant workers push happily away in service jobs around the country; they are picking vegetables in the Salad Bowl of the Northern California; they are waiting tables at small cafes in Dallas, Texas, pooling their money together with siblings and buying homes at alarming numbers in regions like Oak Cliff or South Dallas near Pinkston High School where others are too good to invest. They are moving to Boise, Idaho when others insist on moving to large cities where they can experience night life and strut. The practitioner finds himself taking advantage of these areas of economy, opening yoga studios in small towns like Rexburg, Idaho or Norfolk, Virginia - all the while aware that the average Afghan worker makes about $1.25/12-hour work day. He is learning Chinese and Network Engineering; he let's others call him 'square'. The Fool, at the beaconing of the Magician, declares, "I may be as square as your EGO declares, but your view of my limitation is the greatest advantage. It is my ace in the hole. Just because you perceive me a 'square' does not mean I am not god in human form.Yes, the ego can manifest itself in puzzling ways. And we've been had - ALL of us.

I once believed, as teachers working in public education barked away in righteous poise, that working at McDonald's would be the worst possible fate in life for me. In 2004, at the poorest moment for McDonald's Corporation in recent history, I was proudly writing papers on Existentialist Rhetoric in the Revolutionary Writings of Juan Rulfo in the Language and Literatures Department of Arizona State University. If I had spent my time learning networks, exercising, and working at McDonald's when shares were trading at $13.00, I would now be a multi-millionaire. Their shares now trade around $83.00 a piece, their managers make as much as I do, and their franchise operations are among the most profitable on the globe. Wouldn't I then have as much time to pontificate, wonder, and chant as any practitioner could ask for? Wouldn't that then be the greatest 'fuck you' to organization one could give? Organizations are not to blame just become some practitioners have left one organizational hierophant for a guru who leaves these same practitioners with less. My teachers were wrong and so were yours. I was wrong about Mormonism, I was wrong about U.S. Bank, and I was wrong about McDonald's - just not as cool as most of you.

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